Hello, I just purchased my first jaguar, a 1984 XJS SE with the V12 Engine and automatic transmission. It is an extremely clean car that I was able to pick up for very cheap money but it has not been run in about 12 years. Aside from all the normal things like checking fluids and making sure the mice didn’t get any more scary is there anything that I need to know about these cars before I attempt to start it? Any assistance on the best place to purchase parts would be greatly appreciated as well.

 

Download and read Kirbert Palm's book from Jaglovers. This will give you a real insight into the car and its maintenance.
For parts it is best, at least to begin with, to use the specialist suppliers:
SNG Barratt
David Manners
Coventry West
for example.

 

Agreed.

ALSO

Any Rubber type hose under the bonnet MUST be replaced, BEFORE any thoughts of attempting to start that car.

Fuel hoses, MANY, coolant hoses, MANY, then the belts.

ALL fluids refreshed.

Fuel tanks, there are 2, cleaned, and new seals on the openings, fuel pump will possible be a rusted solid ump, cheap anyway, fuel filter (behind the spare wheel), will be ratted.

The list is LONG, but I think you get the idea, 12 years is a very long time, and age related rot will have had a field day.

 

Hello 84jag

My advice - concentrate on the motor before moving onto the other areas of the car. Since it has not started for 12 years and I'm presuming you do not know the history of her, treat her like a mystery she is. Remove the plugs, pour some diesel down the cylinders and spin it by hand if you can. If she spins, disconnect the fuel pump and see if spins with the starter motor. If that is successful - then its maintenance 101 and enjoy the journey.

In case I sound like someone else on the forum - pictures would be nice

Cheers
Steve

 

Welcome to our world and congrats on the XJ-S !

I will say you can try to get it running with old coolant hoses, belts and fuel lines. You should just not close the bonnet and start driving before these parts are renewed unless you like to end up stranded or even worse: Have a fuel fire from leaky fuel lines.
I changed 30 years old fuel lines on mine this winter, and they were not leaking. I will on the other hand not claim they were safe to drive with, but I suppose you get the picture.

I would do it this way:
Plugs out, thin oil/diesel in the bores. All 12 plugs, please. That requires removal/loosening of air con compressor, cruise control bellow, throttle capstan tower.
New/good battery connected. Turn the key and see what happens. Engine will most likely spin.
New plugs in. LOW torque, 11 Nm as I remember it. If the old plugs look fresh and you don't mind doing this soon again, feel free to reuse them.
Old fuel out. You can pump it out using the fuel pump. Detach fuel line in engine bay RH side. You can then either turn the key a few hundred times to pump it out in small batches of 3-4 seconds of pumping, or you can hotwire the pump in the boot.
New fuel in. I will say minimum 10 litres to be sure you actually get fuel pumped around.
Start the engine. If it runs, mount AC and throttle capstan. Start again, and let it run until warm. Keep an eye on the temp gauge. It shall stay below the top of the N.
Then change the engine oil. 20W50, 11 litres.

And now you then start looking at all the old rubber parts...
Don't forget the old cracked fan. Probably also the fan clutch.

Good luck with it !

 

Thank you all for the advice. I’ve only owned the car for two days now so I’m just trying to figure out where to start. The car had been stored in a very dry garage and shows no signs of dry rot on the tires or any other rubber. This car is Exceptionally clean for one that had been sitting for so long. I am told that it was only parked because they had purchased a new vehicle and then it was kind of forgotten. Seems to make sense considering the family. I drained the fuel today and did a little cleanup under the hood. To be honest my initial intentions with the car were to get it running and enjoy it for a little while and then moving her on to a new owner. I just couldn’t let it sit there and deteriorate any longer. In the next couple days I will pull the spark plug is and attempt to turn it over. I did find brake lines in the engine compartment that are in need of replacement so I will take a close look at those items. I really don’t want to get into ripping most of the motor apart to change every piece of rubber but if I must I must. I have tried to post pics several times with no luck. I will try again soon.

Thank you again

 

 

Thanks for the pictures - looks very nice.

In regards to fuel lines - there are way too many stories of jags catching fire due to leaking fuel on this forum alone. The system runs at very high pressure, and it does not take long for a lot of fuel to be released to cause serious damage.

For mine - I moved the fuel lines in the boot, which are easy to get to - they creaked something awful, which indicated mine were past there used by date. If you do this to yours and they are still flexible - maybe the ones under the hood are still ok as well.

Depends on what you want to do with the car, to get it running and then sell it, or keep it for a couple of years to enjoy it

Cheers
Steve

 

84jagxjs...where in CT are you?

 

Beautiful car, and those wheels... Lucky! If you invest into it now and replace all non-metal staff - you will be turning heads for many years to come.

Definitely follow advice on fuel lines before pouring gas in. Replace them all... When I was replacing fuel pump my fuel line that goes from tank cracked in half like it was made from paper and I got trunk washed with gas.

 

Very nice car!

If you have a "Fibrenew" franchise n your area try them out if you aren't already aware of them. They fix that split in the leather in no time!

 

Suffield

 

That’s a lovely beast! Yes, fix it up, get it running, drive it a bit. Good luck letting it go then.

“I’ll just try heroin this once. Then I’m done!”
—nobody ever

 

Still making my list of things to do and started looking at prices for some of the parts. I’m just checking, but does almost $500 for a set of four fuel lines seem crazy? Especially when there are a lot more lines to purchase. Seems like I’m going to be close to $1000 just in fuel lines. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong place?

 

Which lines are you talking about, please? Unless the under floor ones the price is crazy.

 

Many years ago.....maybe 15 or 16....I bought the four pipe-and-rubber fuel hose assemblies for my V12. It was $325 then. So, $400 today seems plausible.

After that I decided to simply cut off the rubber bits and install new. Maybe $15 for hose and ferrules

Cheers
DD

 

I presume the feed and return pipes at the fuel rail

Cheers
DD

 

He kit I’m talking about is the fuel rail set (4) on top of the engine. I was thinking the same thing Doug Dwyer mentioned.

 

Yeah, you can just (carefully) cut off the rubber hose sections and press-on new hoses. It's done all the time, no big deal, easy. Use new ferrules, readily available.

Same with the hoses at the injectors. Cut off the old, press-on the new

Don't damage the barbed nipples or you might have a leak

Lots of write-ups and pics in the archives

Cheers
DD

 

This is a good source for fuel lines:

https://jaguarfuelinjectorservice.com/

He will do a complete rebuild of your fuel rail/injectors including ultrasonic cleaning of the injectors for $475.

Cheers